As a quilter, as many of you are, I love to buy fabric, patterns and design and see all the amazing possibilities there are to create! But finishing them is another story. I found the American Patchwork & Quilting UFO challenge a few years ago and it is a great way to stay on task. There program is a lot of fun and really community building. You create a list of 12 and each month they randomly pick a number for you to work on. There is a huge Facebook group to post your progress and cheer on your fellow quilters.

For those who are not familiar with this quilt terminology, a UFO is an Unfinished Object. I wrote my list of 12 UFOs in 2017 and completed 4 that year. A nice start, which led to some rollovers for the following year. This year I completed 5 off my list! See that? GROWTH! Let’s take a look:

Kandinsky Quilt

Origination: Fabric & Idea since 2014. Completed January 2018.

When I first started falling in love with quilting, I had eyes bigger than my skills. I would buy fabrics, patterns, and kits that I would dream of making. A semi-problem that has continued through my life, even though skills have definitely improved! For this project, I wanted to learn how to sew circles. You don’t see them very much. But I didn’t want to do inset circles, I wanted to make reverse applique of circles.

During a cleaning session I found my little fabric pack I found of 4″ squares. The fabric is Fossil Fern which I loved at the time and was perfect for my idea. For a while the little pack of 112 squares went into my stash, hidden for a few years. I wanted to create a version of the abstract artist Kandinsky and his color studies. This print of his is hanging in my entry hall and always thought it would be a good quilt. This was the year!

I decided since it’s a mini and just for me, I would take the easy way out and do raw edge applique. Organizing the fabrics, I stacked the lights on the bottom, added the next medium layer. I sewed a small circle on the two layers and then cut out the inner circle. I repeated the process for the next layer, and then pieced into a top. Since the aspect was about the color and circles, it did not need a lot of quilting. Simple quilt in the ditch was enough and I had my first UFO complete! The circles are not perfect, the raw edge a little tight, but I love it just the same.

SEW – Alphabet Soup

Origination: Letter S since summer 2017. Completed: May 2018

I’m not sure when I first found JayBird Quilts patterns, but they are my favorite! She created two amazing rulers and a plethora of patterns to use them with. I have so many of her patterns I keep a list on the ‘notes’ section of my phone. If I spot a pattern of hers in the wild I can quickly check my stock to see if I have it. This has saved me in double purchasing patterns I love! I have 55+of her patterns which include the minis, the standard patterns, and her blocks of the month. In 2017 it is time to start actually making them! Since then I have now made 12 of her patterns. See that, more GROWTH!

The letter S was made for a class sample. I taught this technique at Happy Apple Quilts. I love text fabric and when she created an alphabet pattern, I knew I would be hooked. There are lots of little pieces and you need to use both of her rulers to create them. The Hex N More and the Super Sidekick. The letters can have really great effects depending on the fabric you use. For this one, I decided to use Carolyn Friedlander’s fabric of neutrals. I knew the patterns would blur as one. This now hangs in my sewing room. I am hoping she creates a miniature version!

Creamsicle

We are very lucky here in Tampa to have access to lots of great quilt shows. The Original Sewing & Quilt Expo comes every year in March nearby to Lakeland, Florida. It’s a tradition of my mom’s and mine to go every year. My guild even has a table and quilt show with them for the past 3 years! This design came from a class there. You start with a layer cake, create some triangles, and do a lot of chopping and rearranging. Not difficult at all, and in class I had finished a few blocks. But like most quilters, I became distracted and this beauty was put in a box. I just loved the fabric and decided this year it needed finishing. Fabric is by V & Co, her Simply Colorful line. Orange is my favorite color. It is so bright and cheery, and is well underutilized!

Snack Time

Origination: 2016, maybe? Completed: July 2018

Time for another Jaybird Quilts pattern! This Snack Time pattern works from a jelly roll and the crib size uses half a roll. I didn’t want to make a huge quilt and I thought instead I could make two quilts from one jelly roll, and then donate these to my local Project Linus. One reason I love JayBird Quilt patterns is they are super fast to make. The Snack Time pattern took a little longer, due to lots of cutting and forming the ‘donuts.’ For a while it was my project I took to guild sew days which is really why it took so long to create. I split the jelly roll into two color ways and chose different background fabrics. I really love how it made it look like two completely different quilts this way!

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